Bloggers remember the victims of the tragedy at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Today is the day for the One Day Blog Silence project where many people are not posting on their blog or commenting on other’s blogs. They will instead be thinking about those who were killed on April 16th in that horrible tragedy.

Other bloggers, however, are choosing to blog about the event today, and I have created a place for you to link your posts with others. To participate, all you have to do is enter your name and the URL of your post (not your main site URL) and a link will appear below. (Update: submissions are now closed, but comments are still open. Thanks for joining in.)

Everyone needs to process and recognize this tragedy in their own way. To those of you who choose to write about it today, thank you for joining us.

  1. Nell
  2. Mom on Coffee
  3. Country Mouse
  4. Bon
  5. Damselfly
  6. Jean
  7. BadBadIvy@Love Shak, Baby
  8. jen
  9. Peter

Posted

in

by

Comments

10 responses to “Bloggers remember the victims of the tragedy at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University”

  1. Sholomanarchy Avatar

    This matter has already been discussed, but it bears repeating. Far more people were killed in Iraq that day than in Virginia, and Monday was one of the “less bloody” days that week. Yet we see no presidential appearances at memorial convocations, no flags at half-mast, no moments of silence in Congress, no national days of mourning, no endless amounts of “news” coverage; so fuck it, fuck your blog silence and your other meaningless pathetic gestures, they’re idiotic and moronic. As long as the American people turn a blind eye and an apathetic ear to the killing that they fund with their tax dollars, I don’t give a flying fuck about the “tragedies” that burst their little security bubbles.

  2. nell Avatar

    I understand the impulse behind the comment left by Sholomanarchy above, and agree that the daily tragedies of the war in Iraq make what happened at Virginia Tech seem small, but it doesn’t make it meaningless, nor does it negate the empathy of Americans for those who lost their lives or loved ones on April 16.

    I also agree that as a collective, Americans could probably be doing more to curb the daily violence, but how? I think a lot of us feel helpless, so when something comes along (like blog silence) where we can actually do something, we seize on that as a kind of lifeline. Human nature is complex, there are no easy answers. Blog Comment Hostility however, is not going to get anyone very far.

  3. Mom on Coffee Avatar

    So much I could say to the first commentor, but as someone who HAS lost a family member in Iraq it would only serve to dishonor an amazing man and father.

    I don’t know quite what to say anymore…

  4. Country Mouse Avatar

    While I think we need to acknowledge that this is not the greatest tragedy of our time, I don’t think we need to do that by denigrating the genuine pain of people who have lost loved ones.

  5. Bon Avatar

    my own post today is only marginally about the VT killings…but i included it anyway after reading Sholomanarchy’s rant above. because i too, think the blog silence is presumptuous bull, but that’s not what Erika’s trying to do here. she’s trying to offer an alternative. and i can’t see how people trying to write about grief or tragedy, even if from a limited perspective, is a bad thing, because i think the reason North American culture suffers from a “bubble” view of the world is partly because we have serious denial issues around death, grief, and tragedy.

    i wrote on sorrow. today, for me, isn’t about the VT shootings, but about the death of my son. which is my own bubble, certainly…just one small death in the face of thousands of others. but in being forced to deal with grief i found i developed the courage to look others’ grief and tragedy in the face…and i do think Erika’s effort here is to encourage people to do the same.

  6. Ivy Avatar

    People are killed by violence all over the place. All we can do is try to honor the victims.

  7. Melanie Avatar

    I posted about why I’ll be posting today. I think that this is a personal choice, no doubt about it, but I also think symbolism changes from person to person. For me, thousands of people being quiet today feels like he got the attention and publicity he wanted. But again, that’s me.

  8. Melanie Avatar

    Oooops, I forgot… to Sholom: While I can understand your frustration, I also think that your comparison is like saying, “Don’t protest murder! There are rapes happening everywhere! DUH!”

    They’re both bad events. Terrible things happened in Iraq AND in Virginia on that day. There is no comparison.

  9. Wendy Boucher Avatar

    I didn’t know about the blog silence day until now. So I wasn’t quiet at all. But I want to congratulate you on a post that can fire people up. And kudos to Melanie. Nice comment.

  10. jen Avatar

    hey sister, i linked a post i wrote when it happened, hope that’s ok.

    nicely done.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *